The present invention is directed toward a hands display type of electronic timepiece having a plurality of display functions, and in which a single set of hands are selectively utilized to display two or more types of time information, such as the current time and a preset alarm time, as designated by the user.
With such an electronic timepiece, changeover from display of one type of time information to display of another type of time information is generally performed by rotating the hands at high speed into positions indicating the new time information to be displayed. However a serious problem which arises with prior art electronic timepieces of this type lies in the fact that the user may accidentally apply an input to the timepiece circuits while such display changeover is in progress, with the result that there is an error in the information that is displayed when such changeover is completed. There is in fact a strong possibility of such erroneous inputs being applied, since the display changeover time interval may be relatively long. For example in the case of a timepiece in which the motor rotates by one step every 20 seconds, so advancing the hands once every 20 seconds, even with high speed hands rotation with the stepping motor of the timepiece being advanced by a drive signal comprising drive pulses at a rate of 64 Hz, it will take 3 seconds for the hands to be advanced by an amount representing one hour on the dial. Thus, there is a danger that the user may accidentally cause an input error by touching a correction switch while display changeover is in progress.
It is an objective of the present invention to overcome such problems, by providing a correction system whereby hands position correction operations are inhibited until display changeover has been completed.